Dissident patriarch of Vietnam Buddhist group dies

HANOI (Reuters) - The patriarch of a Vietnamese Buddhist group that has peacefully campaigned against successive governments and Communist Party controls on religion, died in his monastery at the age of 87 on Saturday, the organization said.

Thich Huyen Quang, Supreme Patriarch of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), died at the Nguyen Thieu monastery in the south-central province of Binh Dinh, where he has spent years living under restrictions.

Since late May, Quang had been in intensive care for heart, lung and kidney problems in a hospital, and returned to the monastery on Saturday, the Paris-based advocacy group, International Buddhist Information Bureau, said in a statement.

UBCV deputy leader Thich Quang Do, who lives under restrictions in a monastery in Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon, was with Quang when he died, the group said.

A funeral ceremony will be held at the Nguyen Thieu monastery on Friday.

"For his uncompromising determination to stand firm, he paid a high price, spending over half his life in prison, internal exile or under house arrest under a succession of political regimes," the statement said.

The patriarch was born on September 19, 1920 in Binh Dinh with the secular name of Le Dinh Nhan.

During his life, he opposed French colonial rule, the U.S.-backed South Vietnam government of the 1960s and also the Communists, who came into power in the unified Vietnam in 1975 and brought all religions under state supervision.

Quang was arrested in Ho Chi Minh City in 1982 for protesting against the state's establishment of the Vietnam Buddhist Church and the effective banning of the UBCV.  Continued...